In Lafourche, voters reject new levee tax, renew water tax

Published: Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 6:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 12:43 a.m.

A bid to levy a new one-cent sales tax north of the Intracoastal Waterway in Lafourche Parish for flood protection was rejected by voters Saturday.

Voters also renewed a property tax the Bayou Lafourche Freshwater District uses to operate the local drinking water system.

The North Lafourche Levee District’s proposed new sales tax would have raised more than $8 million annually.

The tax failed by a vote of 3,307 against to 2,799 in favor, or 54 percent to 46 percent, according to complete but unofficial results. About 14 percent of the district’s 45,027 voters cast ballots.

The Levee District protects the area from Lockport to Larose in south Lafourche to Kraemer and Chackbay in the parish’s northern reaches.

The district includes more than 200 miles of levees and 47 pump stations.

The district brought in about $3 million last year, with more than two-thirds going toward new projects and maintenance. Money raised from the tax would have went toward speeding the construction of flood-protection measures, officials said.

The district has identified $248 million in projects to improve the area’s flood protection.

In the other tax election Saturday in Lafourche, voters renewed a 2.11-mill property tax that makes up the majority of the Bayou Lafourche Freshwater District’s operation budget.

The 20-year renewal passed by a district vote of 7,573 or 73 percent to 2,742 votes or 27 percent.

In Lafourche, it passed 6,048 to 1,983 or 75 percent to 25 percent.

About 13 of the parish’s 57,812 registered voters cast ballots in the water-tax election.

The district’s primary function is to feed water from the Mississippi River into Bayou Lafourche. From there, the parish and city of Thibodaux have treatment facilities that bring the water from the bayou to residents’ homes.

Bayou Lafourche is the sole source of drinking water for about 300,000 people in Lafourche, Terrebonne and surrounding parishes.

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